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Officer's error leads to suit against city

By JUSTIN GEORGE
Published December 2, 2005

TAMPA - Duwayne Potter approached a teller window at a Fowler Avenue SunTrust Bank on April 8 and waited to cash a paycheck.

At the same time, a robber presented a handwritten note to another bank teller. "Give me all your money right now. I'm a little impatient."

Someone called the police. Just as Potter finished cashing his check, he said, a Tampa police officer grabbed his neck, twisted an arm around his back and shoved him down to his knees.

"What did I do? What did I do?" he said he told the officer. "I didn't do anything? What did I do? Why are you doing this to me?"

That's when he said he was shoved face down to the ground and had a knee pressed against him, actions which Potter said injured his already fragile back.

Potter filed a lawsuit Thursday against the city of Tampa, seeking $100,000, the most he could get from a government protected by sovereign immunity laws.

"It'd be inappropriate to comment on pending litigation," Tampa police spokesman Joe Durkin said.

The officer apologized when he found out he had the wrong man. But that didn't undo the harm, Potter said.

Years ago, Potter, 46, a self-employed painter, underwent a laminectomy, or a surgery which relieved pressure on the spinal cord or nerve roots. Later, he said, he had spinal fusion surgery after a disk exploded.

In 17 years, he said, he hadn't seen a doctor for back pain. Until the robbery.

"The MRI shows I have four bulging discs in my neck," Potter said. "Two of them are herniated, and I have got three bulging discs in my lower back."

When he puts his arm behind his back, he can't lift it above his waist, he said. A shoulder is also injured.

Potter said his work hours have been cut in half and he's been seeing a therapist for seven months. If he needs surgery, he said, $100,000 won't cover his medical bills.

--Justin George can be reached at 813 226-3368 or jgeorge@sptimes.com

[Last modified December 2, 2005, 01:13:14]